GCL Orioles Notes

I've attended the last three GCL Orioles games. Here are some notes that include my observations and thoughts from scouts...

Hitters

Adrian Marin

He was by far the most impressive hitter on the team.

He has some smooth actions at SS and a nice, quick, smooth swing. His pitch recognition was solid and on one occasion waited back on a curveball and drove it up the middle for a base hit. In another at bat he drilled a fastball on the outside of the plate to right field for a triple. He also put up a 4.2 home to first time (a scout I spoke with timed him). He?s a fun player to watch. Really well rounded and knows how to play the game.

Hector Veloz

He hits the ball really, really hard. He has a lot of trouble with pitch ID. His motions at 3B are a bit stiff and I spoke with a scout who thinks he'll eventually move off 3B. The scout also gave him a 55 grade for his arm strength.

Manuel Hernandez

Has some bat speed and speed. Quick hands. Above-average arm. Good fastball hitter.

Jalen Simmons

He has some tools. I spoke with a scout who gave him a 60 grade for his arm strength and 55 for his speed. He's pretty raw but has some bat speed. Unfortunately he was hit by three pitches over the course of two games so I didn't get to see as much of him as I would have liked.

Pitchers

Josh Hader (8/7)

Hader was easily the most impressive pitcher I saw over the course of three games. A scout I spoke with, who saw every single pitcher on the roster that pitched over the past week or so, also said Hader was the most impressive pitcher he had seen on the GCL O's roster.

Hader has really good deception and movement on all of his pitches. He throws from a fairly low arm slot. He was 89-91 mph with his fastball, commanded it really well, and it had some sink. He throws both a curve and slider, and I spoke with a scout who said the curve is the better pitch.

A scout also said Hader has the kind of stuff that can "play in the majors". He's also a local kid.

Jhondaniel Medina (8/10)

Medina, 19, sat 89-91 mph with his fastball. He looks pretty maxed out physically, maybe a little room. Slider was sharp throughout the entire game and had some nice bite to it. His changeup wasn?t anything special in the early innings, but later on in the game he threw some really good ones down in the zone and got a few strikeouts with it.

I spoke to a scout who said Medina could be a swing man/MR/long man down the road depending on where he ends up with his velocity.

Alexander Santana (8/9)

86-88 mph fastball, slider and changeup. Slider is his primary secondary pitch but he mixed in a few very good changeups.

Duke Porter (8/9)

85-87, mph fastball; touched 88. Left it up in the zone quite frequently. He just started pitching after focusing on martial arts for a while, so an interesting follow.

Jake Pintar (8/9)

Slow breaking ball in 68-71 mph range. His fastball was fairly straight and sat 88-90 mph, but he has a lot of projection. 29th round selection this year.

Domingo Salas (8/7)

91-93 mph with his fastball. Also mixed in a high 80s two-seamer, 82-86 mph breaking ball, and a changeup. He has a clean delivery and good drive towards home plate.

Janser Severino (8/7)

Struggles to control his stuff in general but was 94-97 mph with his fastball.

Dioni Dominguez (8/10)

89-92 mph with his fastball, touched 93, and commanded his changeup well.